Humidifier



March 3, 1959 D. R. RUEGSEGGER 2,875,991

' HUMIDIFIER v Filed Jan. 9, 1956 j; 'j 3g: /j

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HUMIDIFIER Donald R. Ruegsegger, Detroit, Mich. Application January 9, 1956, Serial No. 557,895 2 Claims. (Cl. 261-66) The present invention relates to apparatus for humidifying air, and more specifically to such an apparatus which is intended to be installed as a unit in air'heaters, domestic furnaces, and other air-conveying systems.

The type of air humidifier most commonly in use is a small bowl, trough or open water tank installed in the bonnet or other part of the air-conveying jacket of the typical home furnace. Such a humidifier tank usually has a float Valve for maintaining the level of water in the tank. Warm air passing over the tank picks up moisture to raise the relative humidity of the air in the home. Sometimes soapstone evaporators, or felt or fabric wicks are suspended in contact with the water of the tank, in order to increase the total evaporating area. Such vay humidifier is relatively expensive to build, install and maintain, it has a low operating efficiency, and is not easily susceptible of adjustment to produce a given or desired relative humidity. Such a humidifier, moreover, usually is lbuilt in varioussizes and capacities to suit the various sizes of furnaces.

It is among the objects of this invention, therefore, to provide a humidifier apparatus which is inexpensive to build by reason of being composed of elements made by simple cutting, stamping, bending, soldering, etc., operations, which is easy to install as a unit, which has low maintenance'co'sts, and which has a high operating efliciency.

comprising an inverted L-shaped sheet metal bracket 12 adapted to be secured to wall 10 by bolts 14 and to a vertically extending water inlet or valve housing 16. The inner end of the bracket horizontal leg is bent to provide a hook-like fulcrum portion 18. If the wall were horizontal or inclined, the bracket 12 would be open. The trough w Another object of the present invention is to provide I a unit ofthe type described having a simple means for increasing or decreasing its capacity'to suit an individual installation.

Another object is to provide a humidiiier of thetype described wherein a simple means is provided for adjusting the rate at which water is evaporated therefrom into the air in contact therewith or, in other words,4 a means for adjusting the unit to produce a desired relative humidity in the air leaving the air-conveying apparatus.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent, or will become apparent, in the following more detailed description of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing:

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a view partly in section and partly in elevation showing the humidifier unit of this invention installed in an air-conveying conduit such as the bonnet portion of a hotair.furnace,.or the like;

Fig. 2 is atran'sverse sectional View through the water conduit or trough of the humidifier'of this invention, the view being taken along the line 2-.2 ofV Fig. l; and

Fig. 3 is a vertical section through a portion of the water inlet housing and through the valve member -and trough of the humidifier, the section being taken along the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Referring now to the drawings and specifically toFig. 1thereof, thehumidifier unit of this invention is seen to be installed Ona verticalwall 10 of 'an air-conveying system such as, for example, the outer wall of a furnace bonnet. The unit includes a basic mounting assembly suitably shaped so as to present the fulcrum portion 18 in a proper horizontal position relative to the wall 10 and the air stream.

On the fulcrum 18 there is suspended an elongated, open-topped trough 20, a cotter key 21 or pin being passed through the sides of the trough and resting on the fulcrum portion 18 so as to hingedly support the trough on the bracket 12. An end wall 22 closes the outer end of the trough and the inner end thereof is 20 may be made from a single sheet of metal with the end wall 22 being soldered in position. Since the function of the troughis to carry'water and serve as a lever, any other form of a substantially rigid conduit means, `such as a length of tubing or pipe, be employed if desired. y

The hollow water inlet or valve housing 16 extends through and is connected to the horizontal leg portion of the mounting bracket 12. The housing 16 is connected with a conduit 23 which is adapted to convey water under pressure to the housing 16. The lower end of the housing 16 is recessed to provide a valve seat 24 and a recess 25 extending inwardly from the valve seat and communicating with the aperture 2 7 in the housing. A valve Vmember 29 is disposedl in the lower end of the housing 16 and may be made of a resilient material, suchy as rubber or plastic. The valve member includes a main body portion 31, the inner face of which engages the valve seat 24, and a nose or guide portion 33 of which is disposed in the recess 25 so as to guide the movement of the. valve member relative to the housing 16 as the `valve member moves into and out of engagement with the valve seat. lt should be noted that the diameter ofthe valve body portion 31 is smaller lthan the inside diameter of the lower end portion of the housing 16 so that when the valve member moves away from the valve seat water can flow through the housing past the guide portion33 and past the body portion 31 into the trough 2li. The lower end of the body portion 31 extends below the bottom of the housing 16 and is normally engaged by the bottom surface 35 of the trough so that under certain circumstances the bottom of the trough will retain the valve member in engagement with the valve seat, but under other circumstances, which will be hereinatter explained, the trough bottom will move away from the housing 16 and the valve member 29 will move downwardly away from the valve seat to permit the admittance of water into the trough. With the arrangement illustrated, water owing downwardly through the housing 16 will not splash when it engages the bottom of the trough as the valve body portion 31 will break up any splashing.

An evaporator assembly 37 is suspended on the inner lend of the trough 20. The assembly 37 includes a rod 39 having a hook-like portion 41 formed on the upper end thereof which is adapted to iit over the trough and be disposed in any one of a plurality of sets of notches 43 provided in the top 'of the trough side walls. The notches are longitudinally spaced from the inner end of the trough so that the position of the rod 39 on the trough can be adjusted for reasons which will hereinafter appear. A plurality of vertically spaced evaporator units 45 are supported on the rod 39 below the trough 20. While the construction of the evaporator units 45 may vary, ,each unit is illustrated as comprising a rectangular sheet 47 of screen wire or the like supported by means Patented Mar. 3, 1.959#

could of a conically shaped spring 49 frictionally supported on the rod and having its upper large end engaging and supporting the evaporator unit. The screen may be embossed with a cir-cular or lother .pattern so as to provide a depressed circular portion adjacent the center of the screen so -that any water which drops on the evaporator unit will tend .to yow toward the center rather than flowing off the outer Vperipheral edge of the unit. A sheet or layer 51 of fibrous or porous material having the ability to hold water is placed on top of the wire screen 47. Fabrics of all types, such as matting, felt, soapstone plates or sheets, or any other suitable material, may be used .to form this sheet or layer. It has been found that an especially desirable material for the evaporator sheet or layer-is a porous mat of glass fibers, such as is employed for air filtering .and the like. In the event that the absorbing material has suiicient structural strength or rigidity, the wire screen may be dispensed with as it serves merely as a supporting structure for the water absorbing material. One or more evaporator units 45 may be mounted on the rod 39, depending on the amount a of .moisture to be added to the air of the system.

When Vthe device is `mounted in a furnace or the like, the trough 20 is suspended or balanced o-n the bracket 12 so that when a desired number of evaporator units are sufiiciently saturated with water, the bottom 35 of the trough will engage the valve member 29 to cause the same to engage with valve seat 24 in the housing 16 and thereby substantially close the lower end of the housing 16, ,or at least permit only a slight seepage of water .past the valve member and into the trough. The position of the vrod 39 on the trough may be adjusted by locating the rod in any of the rough notches 43 to give the desired balanced etect in accordance with the number of evaporator units supported on the rod and the saturated weight of the units. The bottom of the trough 20 slopes slightly downwardly toward the inner end thereof so that any water in the trough drops from the inner end thereof onto the evaporator units 45. When the topmost plate has become completely saturated so that it cannot hold any more water, the water will drop onto the next plate therebelow. The saturation of all of the plates can, of course, be accomplished by supplying a suicient quantity of water so that the excess water will drop through eachof the plates until it reaches the bottommost plate in the lunit. As soon as this happens, the weight of the evaporator assembly will cause the trough to fulcrum or pivot .about the .fulcrum portion 18 of the bracket 12 to move the valve member 29 into engagement with the valve Seat24. As the air in the furnace or the like evaporates the water from the evaporator units, the weight ,of the ,evaporator assembly will decrease, and as the weight decreases, the outer end of the trough will tend to swing downwardly about the fulcrum 18 so that the .water in the inlet will move .the valve member 29 away from the valve seat 24 to vpermit more Water to ow into the trough to again saturate the evaporator units and increase the weight of the assembly. When the assembly weight increases a predetermined amount, the inner end of the trough willswing downwardly, .moving the .outer end upwardly. The upward movement ol the outerend of the trough will cause the valve member 29 .tomove .into engagement with the valve seat and .thus substantially close the valve. In this way the desired amount of water in the evaporator assembly will be automatically maintained at all times so as to provide the desired amount of humidity in the air flowing through the system.

In ra preferred construction :I have employed a total of fifteen levaporator'units mounted Yon the rod 39. In -such preferredV construction, the absorbent mats 51A of the threelowermost evaporator-units are substantially thicker than the rest, and of greater water holding capacity, being preferably of the lorder of fivetimes greater =in thickness the oft" periods of the furnace, only the uppermost of the three thicker units 45A is wet. The reserve water holding capacity of the two lowermost thick units assures tight closure of the valve in event there should be any tendency to leakage at the valve. The valve member 29 may be made of relatively-resilient rubber, so that even if it should be to some degree deformed in service, or if a small piece of foreign material should lodge between the valve and its seat, the extra closing force obtainable by the substantial weight of water required to wet the lower units 45A will tend to seal the valve against its seat by forcing the resilient rubber tightly closed around any such deformity or obstruction.

What is claimed is:

l. A humidifying apparatus adapted for mounting as a unit in an air conveying enclosure, said apparatus comprising a bracket structure having a mounting Vportion connectible with said enclosure, a portion extending generally horizontally and inwardly of the enclosure having a generally horizontal fulcrurn adjacent its inner end, conduit means suspended at a point intermediate its length on said fulcrum portion, a water inlet housing secured to said inwardly extendingbracket portion and having a valve seat portion presented in opposition to said conduit means on one side of said fulcrum portion, a valving memberinterposed between said valve seat portion and said conduit means, and an evaporator meanssuspended from said conduit means on the other side of said 'fulcrum portion, said conduit means being adapted to deliver water from said water inlet means to said evaporator means and said valving member being adapted to be urged into contact with said valve seat portion by the movement of said evaporator means exerted .through said conduit means and about said fulcrum portion in responseto a predetermined weight of said evaporator means.

2. A humidifying apparatus adapted for mounting as a unit in an air conveying enclosure, said apparatus comprsing a bracket structure having a mounting portion connectible with said enclosure, a portion extending generally horizontally and inwardly of the enclosure having a generally horizontal fulcrum adjacent its inner end, conduit means suspended at a point intermediate its length on said fulcrum, a water inlet housing secured to said inwardlyextending bracket portion and having a valve seat portion presented in opposition to said conduit means `on oneside of said fulcrum, a valving ,member interposed between said valve seat portion and said conduit means, and vertically stacked evaporator pads adjustably ,sl1spendedfromsaid conduit means on the other side of said fulcrum,.said conduitmeans beingadapted to deliver water from said water inlet means to said evaporator pads and said valving member being adapted `to be urged intocontact with said valve seat portion by the movement of said evaporator means exerted through said conduit .means and about said fulcrum in response to a predetermined `combined weight of said evaporator pads and the watercarried by said pads.

References Cited in the tile of this patent 

